Plug valve



Oct. l 646 013 1927' F. s. CORNELL, JR

PLUG VALVE Filed Jan.l6, 192s 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 nun/58s INVENTOR WZZ Wfmrz 6. Goa/v54; JR.

. a/W/l/W A TTOR/VEYS Oct. 18, 1927. 1,646,013

F. G. CORNELL, JR

PLUG VALVE Filed Jan.1 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 w/rwsss INVENTOR FR/rz 6.UOR/VELL JR.

4 TTORNEYS Patented Oct. 18, 1927.

UNITED STATES I 1,646,013 PATENT OFFICE.

FRITZ G. CORNELL, JR, F CALDWELL, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO w. H.SHEFFIELD,

' OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PLUG VALVE.

Application filed January 16, 1926. Serial No. 81,658.

My invention relates to plug valves for use in connection with pipelines which conduct milk, for instance, from storage or Pasteurizingtanks to the bottling machines.

The object of my invention is to prevent leakage past the valve, whenclosed, into the portion of the pipe line controlled by the valve.

\Vhile my invention is not limited to use to in apparatus for thetreatment or bottling of milk, it is particularly adapted for suchpurpose. Milk is an organic substance which is an excellent culturemedium for bacteria, many of them hostile to the human 16 organism. Thisfact is so clearly recognized that the health authorities of all. orsubstantially all. of the cities of the United States provide for strictinspection of bottled milk to make sure that it contains no. orsubstantially no, harmful bacteria. \Vhen milk is bottled in largerbottling establishments, it is first filtered and otherwise purifiedand, in many cases, Pasteurized, and then led from the storage,filtering or Pasteurizing 2 tank through a pipe to the place ofbottling. In many cases a main pipe line leads to the place of bottling.such pipe line being provided with branch pipes, eachpf which leads to afiltering. storage or Pasteurizing tank.

0 Each of the branch lines and also the main pipe line is provided withat least one lug valve to control the flow of milk. lug valves contain aminimum number of parts arranged to be readily disassembled for cleaningand readily reassembled. It has,

however, been found in practice to be almost impossible to prevent milkfrom being trapped in the plug passage, or from leaking past a closedplug valve between the plug and its casing and thus passing into thepipe beyond the valve and into the main pipe line. especially when themilk is conducted to the valve under high pressure. If the branch pipeline or main pipe line is out of use for a comparatively short time, themilk which has leaked thereinto will become contaminated by colonies ofbacteria and such colonies will then, when milk is again turned in, becarried into the bottled milk and, especially by leading to additionalbacterial growth therein, contaminate the same.

My invention, broadly speaking, contemplates the provision of meanswithin'the plug valve for draining awav milk which tends to leak pastthe valve by making it flow entirely away from the valve and pipe line.A specific embodiment of my invention illustrating but not limiting thesame is shown in the annexed drawings inwhich Fig. l is a plan view ofmy valve in open position, Fig. 2 a-partial section on the line 2-2 ofFig. 1, Fig. 3 a partial section on the line 33 of Fig. 1, Fig. 4 apartial sec-- tion on the line 4'1 of Fig. 2, Fig. 5 the same as Fig. 4but with the valve shown in closed position, Fig. 6 a plan view and Fig.7 a side view of a spring-finger ring adapted to be used with a holdingcap to seat the plug tightly within its casing.

My plug valve comprises a casing I, plug 2 and handle 3 of usualconstruction. The plug is preferably provided with a projection 4adapted to abut against stops 5, 6 arranged on the casing in such amanner as to permit only a quarter turn of the plug, that is to say. aturn from exact open position to complete closed position. As the milkis frequently under pressure sufficiently high to lift the plug from itsseat, a. centrally apertured holding cap 7 provided with projections 8adapted to be inserted through openings 9 in a flange 10 on the casingis provided. To the lower surface of this cap is attached by suitablemeans, such as welding or riveting, a spring-finger ring 11 whoseindividual fingers l2 press yieldingly upon the plug so as to hold it inplace 7 and yet permit it to be turned without excess of friction.

The part of the casing immediately below the plug is preferably equippedwith a closing member 13 provided with a central aperture 11 which maydischarge into a container 15 which container may, if desired, besuspended from the casing, for instance by spring-fingers 16, providedwith beads 18 adapted to cooperate with bead 19 on the casing.

The plug 2 is provided with grooves 20, 21 extending from the'lowermostportion to 100 preferably the uppermost portion of the plug and ofsuflicient depth to drain ofl' any liquid, for instance milk, which maypass thereinto between the plug and its casing andto permit it to flowdownwardly to and 105 through the opening 14 into container 15, thusdraining away from the valve any liquid which might otherwise leak pastthe valve. These grooves should, of course, preferably be so placed thatas the valve is no turned from closed to open position and vice versa,they will at all times be covered by the plug seat as otherwise milkwould leak therethrough directly from the afferent pipe and it would beimpossible to keep the valve open only part way without such unnecessaryleakage. With the valve constructed as shown in Fig. 1 to be turned onlythrough the lower right hand quadrant, the preferred position of grooves20 and 21 is that shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

In order to permit the escape of milk trapped within the plug passagewhen the valve is closed, grooves 22 and 23'are provided in the casing.These grooves should be located in such portions of the casing as are inline with the plug passage when the valve is closed, and should extendfrom the lowermost portion of the plug .preferably to the uppermostportion thereof. Care should, of course, be taken that the grooves arenot so located that when the valve is in anypartially open position,milk can pass thereto freely from the afferent pipe, through the plugpassage. 4 5;

With the grooves arranged as shown in Figs. 4and 5, the plug valve willfunction as follows, assuming that milk flows, or tends to flow, to thevalve in the direction of the arrows; when the valve is in open positionas shown in Fig. 4, the milk will flow freely through the plug'passage,and there is therefore no tendency to leak between the plug and itscasing. When the plug has been turned to closed position, as shown inFig. 5, some milk will have been trap ed in the valve passage, and thiswill ow down through grooves 22 and 23 to member 13,

and out of opening 14, into container 15. Milk which leaks in betweenthe plug and its casing will flow into groove 20 or groove 23 and willtherein flow downwardly until it reaches container 15. If when the valveis closed there is any pressure in the efferent pipe towards the valve,leakage will be taken care of in a similar manner by grooves 21 and 22.

In order topermit free fl w of the milk down the grooves, they should befreely open to the atmosphere at both ends. The simplest-means ofeffecting this result is to have the grooves extend from top to bottomof the plug or casing, as the case may be.

It is obvious that either grooves 20 and 21, or 22 and 23 may beomitted, and leak age still taken care-of. If grooves 20 and 21 areomitted, both leakage and the trapped milk will be taken care of.

My plug cock casing may, if desired, be

provided with a chamber or chambers,

practically a single chamber, provided with inlet opening 27 and outletopening 28 for the admission and escape of steam, hot or cold water, orthe accommodation of electric connections with an electric heatingdevice which may be located within the chamber. 7

If such plug cock is used in close proximity to a Pasteurizing tank, forinstance to cpntrol the flow of Pasteurized milk therefrom, water ofPasteurizing temperature may be circulated through the chamber 24, 24 tocomplete the destruction of any bacteria in the milk which may passbetween the plug and its seat and remain as a film on such portions ofthe plug surface as are exposed to the flow of milk when the plug isagain opened, or may have remained within the plug opening.

Various changes may be made in the construction shown without departingfrom the spirit of my invention. grooves 20 and 21 may be arranged inwhole or in part in the casing instead of the plug, provided they are insuch position that milk will not flow freely therethrough when the plugis in partially, or completely, 90

open position, and some portion of grooves 22 and 23 may be located inthe plug instead of the casing.

,'I claim:

1. In a plug cock, a plug, a casing having' a plug seat provided withdrainage grooves extending t e full height of the plug, a closure memberbelow said plug having an outlet communicating with said grooves, and acap secured to said casing above said plug and having an aperturecommunicating with said grooves.

2. In a plug cock, a casing having a plug seat provided with a drainagegroove adapted to drain liquid from said seat, a

plug having a passage and a drainage groove at one side of said passage,the groove in the casing being so arranged that when the plug is in theclosed position it communicates freely with such passage and with theatmosphere, said casing being provided with an outlet for the liquiddrained by said grooves, and means to support a receptacle for saidliquid indetachable relation.

FRITZ G. CORNELL, JR.

For instance, the 85

